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The original Dragon Quest for the NES was the first game I ever owned. When I left town for the first time, the first enemy I encountered was a slime, and from there, I've come to understand how important this little character is. The slime is to Dragon Quest as the chocobo is to Final Fantasy, and it only seems fitting that it stars in its own title. Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is not only one of Square Enix's first games for the DS, it's also one of the finest titles available on the platform. Combining simple and clean visuals, easy-to-grasp gameplay and engrossing tank battles, this is one of those games that has something for everyone.

In case you're not familiar with the story by now, players take control of Rocket, a young slime whose hometown, Boingburg, comes under attack by the Plob. In their rush for power, the Plob capture the entire populace of Boingburg, and Rocket, being the noble young lad that he is, sets his sights on liberating his enslaved friends and family. You'll be aided by the friends that you rescue along the way, each one giving you new items or access to new features in the game. For example, before you can even save your game, you have to rescue various characters. These include the Nun slime, Mother Glooperior; Ducktor Cid (a duck with a heavy German accent), who assists you in arming your tank; and Slimechanic, who performs upgrades to you battle tank.

The game sports a top-down view, almost mimicking titles like the 2D Zelda series, and is complete with a simple and intuitive control scheme. The B button is used to throw items, while A is used to jump as well as use the Elasto Blast ability. Holding down A and a direction on the D-pad will make Rocket stretch out, and releasing the A button will shoot Rocket in the desired direction. Using Elasto Blast, players can knock enemies and items into the air, allowing Rocket to catch them and use them as weapons or send them back to town for later use.

The highlight of Rocket Slime would easily have to be the tank battles. When Rocket visits some ruins that neighbor his home, he unleashes an ancient tank called the Schliemann, used to defend the slime kingdom of Slimenia. At certain points in the game, you'll be able to face off against a baddy in a tank-vs.-tank battle. Each tank starts off with a set number of hit points, and in order to win a battle, you must bring your opponent's down to zero. Once that's done, you must guide Rocket into the bowels of his opponent's tank and destroy the engine. This involves hurling as much of your inventory as you can to both attack your opponent as well as defend yourself. You see, each tank has upper and lower cannons, where the upper launches items in an arc and the lower cannon shoots ammo straight across the battlefield. Ammo can be used in both offense and defense, as an item can be shot to intercept incoming fire, adding extra strategy to the game.